Saturday, Jul 9, 2011

A Bandytown man was arrested Saturday night on felony animal cruelty charges, according to West Virginia State Police Trooper S.M. Boyles of the Boone County detachment.

James Harold Plogger, 59, made a noose and lassoed it around the neck of his neighbor's walker dog while the owner's 13-year-old son was taking it for a walk, Boyles said.

According to police, Plogger then pulled the dog over a nearby fence and slit its neck "wide open" with a knife.

The dog was still alive when police arrived and was rushed to an animal emergency clinic. The dog's owner, Wesley Boggs, 52, said the dog is in stable condition at a Kanawha County animal hospital. He said veterinarians told him the 10-month-old dog, "Joker," would need surgery.

"There's not a vicious bone in that dog's body," Boggs said.

Boyles said Plogger was retaliating because he thought the dog had killed his cat about a month ago.

Boggs said his 13-year-old son had taken the dog for a walk when the incident occurred. He said after Plogger knifed the dog, he threw it back over the fence and said, "There's your dog."

Plogger was being held in the Southwestern Regional Jail on a $10,000 bond.

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